STILL shaken after being ambushed by masked raiders, postmaster Ian McIntosh has still vowed to reopen his Greenside shop today.

STILL shaken after being ambushed by masked raiders, postmaster Ian McIntosh has still vowed to reopen his Greenside shop today.

The 55-year-old watched on helplessly as balaclava-clad robbers emptied the safe at the post office after he was pounced on by an intruder he describes as being “like a grizzly bear”.

Police are hunting the three raiders, who cut their way into the shop overnight and lay in wait for Ian to open up.

While bruised and stunned, the postmaster has told the Chronicle of his ordeal and his determination to get back to work.

He said: “The fear that goes through your head is unimaginable.

“I’m still a bit sore and stiff and tender. But I could have come off a lot worse than I did. If I had got in their way I don’t know what they would have done.

“I will be nervous for a few weeks.”

Ian had opened the post office in Greenside, Gateshead, at around 9am as he does everyday. But around 20 minutes later he went into the back of the shop and was set upon.

“I opened the shop as normal and got everything ready for the start of the day, then about 20 minutes later, I went into the back passage to get the Hoover out and the next thing I knew I was just surrounded in something black,” he explained.

“I didn’t know what it was. My initial thought was it was a grizzly bear.

“There’s two steps up from the shop floor to the back passage so the guy was a foot taller than me and he just launched himself at me and knocked me backwards.

“I put my arms up to protect myself there was a bit of a scuffle and the next thing I knew I was on the floor.”

As Ian lay helpless on the ground, a second masked robber came in and kicked him in the ribs.

Then a third man came and stood on his legs while the two accomplices emptied his safe.

“They were screaming and swearing saying things like ‘keep down’ and ‘don’t move’,” Ian continued. “Within a few seconds I began to realise what was going on and I realised I couldn’t do anything.

“I just thought the best thing I could do was stay there and let whatever happen, happen.

“At first it is a shock, and then your adrenaline takes over and you try to fight back. But I also felt rage that it was happening to me and frustration that I couldn’t do anything about it, and anger at being stupid enough to want to fight back.”

Ian waited until the robbers had fled out the back of the shop before hitting his panic button.

The postmaster was taken to Hexham General Hospital to be checked over. Medics told him his ribs were bruised but there was no serious damage.

Meanwhile police examining the scene discovered the robbers must have spent some time breaking into the shop.

They took the back door off before cutting their way through a timber partition wall to get into the passage.

“I keep thinking about how long they had been in the shop,” said Ian. “They must have come in some time during the night or early morning. If they had been cutting their way in while I was there I would have heard.

As the robbers remain at large Ian is determined it will be business as usual at Greenside Post Office.

“You can’t protect yourself from things like that,” he said. “You think you are safe behind the counter and you don’t expect raiders to come in.

“You have got to have the attitude that it’s happened and then just get on with things.”

The first man is described as 5ft 8in tall, carrying a black bag. The second man is around 6ft 2in tall and the third man is about 6ft tall.